The King of Fishers

Kingfisher Alcedo atthis

I don’t think many people would not be able to identify this little jewel of electric blue and orange – even when if flashes by fast and low. Usually found near still or slow-moving waters. I love photographing kingfishers, it usually means I’m sat somewhere peaceful surrounded by the tranquillity of trees, reeds and water. You need patience to photograph kingfishers, patience that allows hours waiting for one to arrive, and prior to that arrival you have had to discover an area where kingfishers are present. Then find their favourite ‘fishing spots’, and there can be several at least which will get used. Once all the prep works have been done then comes the waiting and hoping you chosen the right spot.

Then the other ‘lucky’ find is just seeing a Kingfisher perched and staring meaningfully into the water below its perch.

This was the exact way I found this one – well he found me. Marcus and I were in a hide waiting for Swallowtail butterflies to take to the wing over a large reedbed and all of a sudden like magic this guy appears on a ready made perch! It was definitely a male as Kingfishers are really easy to sex by the colour of their lower beak. Females have a reddish-orange lower beak, while males have a fully black beak. A good way to remember which is which is that she’s all dressed up with her lipstick on!!

We watched him for a good hour during which time he caught three fish – all of the fish were small pike which he quickly dispatched by banging their heads against the branch he was sat on. It was obvious that he was feeding young kingfishers all snug and safe in a tunnel somewhere close by as soon as the fish stopped moving he flew off and returned a few minutes later.

They nest in tunnels which they dig using those sharp, pointy beaks. They typically excavate these tunnels in vertical tall mud banks with little or no vegetation. The males will usually create a few different tunnels to impress the female and she will chose the one that she thinks best. The tunneling process can take over two weeks – a massive task for a little kingfisher. The male flies headfirst at the riverbank with his pointed beak until his efforts have loosened the soil, then once a start has begun to show he will perch on the ledge he’s made and start gradually digging away deeper into the bank. The tunnels can be around 1.5 meters long and end in a cosy oval nest chamber where the eggs are laid on the bare earth. They are pretty prolific breeders producing two or three broods a year if the conditions are right and there’s a ready supply of fish close by. Each clutch can contain up to seven eggs, the first hatching in March to May. The eggs take around 20 days to incubate and chicks are feathered and ready to leave the nest after 25 days.